Top Book Blogs 03/2018

Ian Buruma, editor of the New York Review of Books and author of the new memoir A Tokyo Romance, talks to the New York Times’s By the Book section about travel writing, reading the classics, and the literary influences of his youth. “I was thrilled by Henry Miller, but perhaps not for entirely(Mar 1, 2018)

[Guardian Books Blog] Five libraries around the world that are open despite the odds

On World Book Day, a look at libraries from Egypt to Dominica that have remained open despite death threats, extreme weather and terrorismA converted villa in an affluent district of south Cairo is home to the Bardo Clubhouse, a buzzing cultural hub with a library on its ground floor. Founded by(Mar 1, 2018)

[The Millions] March Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month)

We wouldn’t dream of abandoning our vast semi–annual Most Anticipated Book Previews, but we thought a monthly reminder would be helpful (and give us a chance to note titles we missed the first time around). Here’s what we’re looking out for this month — for more March titles, check(Mar 1, 2018)

[Book Forum] PAPER TRAIL: Rachel Rosenfelt named publisher of the “New Republic”; an open letter about jailed journalists in Turkey

In February, a Turkish court handed out a life sentence without parole to novelist Ahmet Altan, professor Mehmet Altan, and journalist Nazli Ilicak, along with three other media employees, for supposedly being involved in this summer’s coup attempt by sending “subliminal messages” on(Mar 1, 2018)

[Book Forum] OMNIVORE: Turning point on guns

The GOP might finally pay a price for its pro-NRA extremism(Mar 1, 2018)

[Book Forum] VIDEO: Brave New Arctic: The Untold Story of the Melting North, by Mark C. Serreze

Carnal, today is your birthday. I don’t know where you are now. But I know you’re somewhere. Many of our intellectual friends would argue that if you’re dead, you are nowhere. I know you well enough to know you are busy wherever you went. I am sure—as your family insisted(Mar 1, 2018)

[Book Forum] OMNIVORE: Discourse on race and inequality in the United States

Democrats and Republicans are increasingly divided on the value of teaching black history(Mar 1, 2018)

Using the winnings from one book prize, I’ve set up another, the TA first translation prize – and here’s why we need itSvetlana Alexievich has a Nobel prize, and deserves it. But while she doesn’t need any recognition from me, I’ve just given the team behind her book a prize: the £2,000(Mar 1, 2018)

[Book Forum] OMNIVORE: The next phase of the Syrian civil war

As the Syrian civil war turns in favor of the regime, a nation adjusts to a new reality(Mar 1, 2018)

Ian Buruma, editor of the New York Review of Books and author of the new memoir A Tokyo Romance, talks to the New York Times’s By the Book section about travel writing, reading the classics, and the literary influences of his youth. “I was thrilled by Henry Miller, but perhaps not for entirely(Mar 2, 2018)

[The Millions] Dispatches From the Trenches of Domestic Life

Six years ago my wife gave me a pair of house slippers. My first ever. A domestic present I thought signaled some new phase of my life. I thanked her. Tried them on. Plush fur lined the inside. I stood up to make a show of enjoying them. Then she handed me a much smaller set of slippers. These had(Mar 2, 2018)

[Book Forum] OMNIVORE: Trump’s transubstantiation

The Trump administration is consumed by malevolence and incompetence(Mar 2, 2018)

We need to talk about how toxic masculinity is killing America(Mar 2, 2018)

[The Millions] Translators Deserve More Accolades

Daniel Hahn reminds us that translators are vastly under appreciated. To help combat this, he created the TA First Translation prize, an award that will go to a translator for a book’s English-language debut. “There are many prizes in the book world, perhaps too many. But some exist not(Mar 3, 2018)

[The Millions] Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat Application

Are you a writer of color in need of the time and space provided by a writing retreat, ideally in October? Then you’re in luck, applications for the Jack Jones Literary Arts retreat have just opened! New York Times Magazine writer Jenna Wortham is this year’s(Mar 3, 2018)

[The Millions] Submit to ‘It’s Lit’

Tomorrow the Root is launching a short story fiction section. If you are a black writer you have a chance to be featured as long as your story is less than 10,000 words. If your story is chosen to be featured you receive $200. Submit your short story here. The post Submit to ‘It’s(Mar 3, 2018)

[The Millions] All She Can Ever Know

“I am writing a book my father will never see. Not in its entirety, not out in the world.” For Longreads, Nicole Chung writes about adoption, family, writing, and finishing her upcoming memoir, All You Can Ever Know, in the wake of her father’s sudden death. Pair with: Julie(Mar 4, 2018)

[The Millions] Gone in the Dark

“And so the book we have available to us is not the one she intended for us to see — and to those who knew her only as the private spouse of a public figure, Michelle McNamara emerges from these pages as much of a mystery as the Golden State Killer does, gone in the dark.” In Vulture,(Mar 4, 2018)

[The Millions] Egan for President

“The power and meaning of the written word are central to the complexities we face today—both as a nation, and globally. To my mind, freedom of expression is a basic human right.” Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan has been named the new president of PEN America. Pair with: our(Mar 5, 2018)

Pulitzer-winning novelist Jennifer Egan (A Visit from the Goon Squad) has been named the new president of PEN America, the writers organization devoted to freedom of expression and human rights worldwide. She follows Andrew Solomon, who ran PEN for three years. “The power and meaning of the(Mar 5, 2018)

[The Millions] Must-Read Poetry: March 2018

Here are eight notable books of poetry publishing in March. Registers of Illuminated Villages by Tarfia Faizullah A few years ago, I read “Poetry Recitation at St. Catherine’s School for Girls” in an issue of The Missouri Review, and reading it again feels like discovering a lost prayer. The(Mar 5, 2018)

[Guardian Books Blog] Poem of the week: Political Asylum by Dick Davis

A deceptively plain description of the comforts of political refuge serves to outline their limitationsPolitical AsylumMy closest friends were killed. I have a lifeThat’s comfortable in almost every way.I haven’t got a job yet, but my wifeHas found a good position with good pay – Continue(Mar 5, 2018)

[Book Forum] DAILY REVIEW: Barbed Wiring

The eminently quotable Martin Amis(Mar 5, 2018)

[Book Forum] OMNIVORE: Trump White House chaos

Dark days inside the White House as Trump shocks and rages(Mar 5, 2018)

[Guardian Books Blog] Tips, links and suggestions: what are you reading this week?

Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of themAre you on Instagram? Then you can be featured here by tagging your books-related posts with #GuardianBooksScroll down for our favourite literary linksRead more Tips, links and suggestions blogsWelcome to this week’s blog.(Mar 5, 2018)

If, like me, you are a reader who wants to turn and run whenever the phrase “coming-of-age novel” appears in conversation or in a blurb, it may seem that a book about two young women attending college in the early 1980s is not for you. But if you seek to understand how American consumerism(Mar 5, 2018)

[Book Forum] OMNIVORE: Trade war, what is it good for?

Trump’s tariff decision is one of the worst fears about his presidency come to life(Mar 5, 2018)

Out this week: The Census by Jesse Ball; Whiskey & Ribbons by Leesa Cross-Smith; The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea; Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala; Happiness by Aminatta Forna; and Wrestling with the Devil by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Want to learn more about(Mar 6, 2018)

[The Millions] What Physics Can Teach Us About Writing Fiction

Sometimes writing fiction feels to me like that oft-used image of a godlike creator: the man pulling the strings of the marionette, orchestrating each fine movement from above the stage. One string might be character, another plot, a third setting, a fourth conflict, then dialogue, figurative(Mar 6, 2018)

Declared essential by Margaret Atwood, this atmospheric novel translated from Turkish has emerged as this month’s choiceOrhan Pamuk’s Snow has emerged as our choice of translated novel to read this month. Since most of us in the UK have recently experienced a great deal of the white stuff, this(Mar 6, 2018)

[Book Forum] OMNIVORE: Trump’s chaos

The real threat to Trump(Mar 6, 2018)

[Book Forum] PAPER TRAIL: Mary Beard on #MeToo; Women in fiction

In honor of Women’s History Month, New York Times book critics compile a reading list of novels by women, and discuss ”writers who are opening new realms to us, whose book suggest and embody unexplored possibilities in form, feeling and knowledge.” From Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels to(Mar 6, 2018)

The author has publicly objected to the portrayal of female characters on his new novel’s cover art – which leaves me wanting to object right backLet’s begin with a preface: I have read a lot of Terry Goodkind’s books. Wizard’s First Rule distracted me from my finals, and I persevered with(Mar 6, 2018)

[The Millions] 2018 Aspen Words Literary Prize Shortlist

The Aspen Words Literary Prize announced their 2018 shortlist yesterday. The annual award is given to “an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.” This year’s finalists(Mar 6, 2018)

1. In 1936, restless in her romantic relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt and eager to cement her identity as a writer, the journalist Lorena “Hick” Hickok began working on a book about her three years of travels across the country to interview regular people. Nurses, day laborers,(Mar 7, 2018)

[Book Forum] OMNIVORE: Trump threatens trade war

Why you should worry when Trump talks tough and stupid on trade(Mar 7, 2018)

Joe Pompeo looks at Jay Penske’s plan for remaking Rolling Stone, which includes both Wenners staying on at the magazine. Pompeo asked Jann Wenner biographer Joe Hagan whether keeping the elder Wenner around will help or hurt the magazine. “I’ve always doubted the future of Rolling Stone(Mar 7, 2018)

[Book Forum] OMNIVORE: The gun control fight

The Parkland kids are revealing America’s failings for all to see(Mar 7, 2018)

[Guardian Books Blog] Just how monstrous is the Sun's 'Flakensteins' story?

Its report, confecting outrage that oversensitive millenials feel Mary Shelley’s monster was misunderstood, is not perhaps as philistine as it soundsAs Sun headlines go, “Flakensteins” isn’t really up there with the classics such as “Gotcha”, “Up Yours Delors” and the immortal(Mar 7, 2018)